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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24076426">empty cups</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/helplessly/pseuds/helplessly'>helplessly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Never Have I Ever (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, au for 1x05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:41:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24076426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/helplessly/pseuds/helplessly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Wait, wait, wait… what do you guys think about a round of Strip Quiz Bowl?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Gross/Devi Vishwakumar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>252</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>empty cups</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Devi couldn’t believe that they had pulled this off.</p><p>Music was playing, drinks were flowing, and a dozen Model UN nerds were having what would most likely be the best night of their lives. Running from the bartender, Devi was almost certain that they would get caught, the hotel would call their parents, and she would spend the rest of her sad life ironing her mother’s clothes and cutting her elderly neighbour’s toenails. But Ben had found a closet to hide in, and it wasn’t just any closet, but a closet filled with booze, and she couldn’t believe that, just this once, she’d gotten lucky.</p><p>More so, she couldn’t believe that Ben was being, well, not completely horrible.</p><p>As the small party continued, Devi was sat across from him on the floor, and she peered at him over the rim of her cup as she took a sip of wine. They’d just shared a high five after discussing an alliance they could form between the US and Equatorial Guinea, which didn’t technically count as an alliance between Ben and Devi, but it was close enough to one that it surprised her. What was more surprising was the grin he wore now, free of any of the smugness that usually shifted his smile. For once, he looked just genuinely happy. Because of her, his sworn nemesis. It almost made her wonder if they could be friends someday.</p><p>“Y’know, even if we have an alliance now, I still don’t think your arguments today made any sense.”</p><p>Almost.</p><p>Devi sighed, wiping the wine and any remains of a smile off her lips, “Whatever, Gross. You’re just bitter that I’m better than you at this Model UN thing without even trying. Just like I’m better at literally everything else. Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”</p><p>“You’re not better than me at Model UN and you’re not better at me than everything,” he insisted, still grinning despite her insults, “You’re not better than me at anything at all, unless you count being annoying.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes. “Good one. I’ll add ‘insulting people’ to the long, long list of things that I’m better at.”</p><p>“Don’t you guys ever stop arguing?” A voice interjected. Devi’s head turned to see Beth sitting on the bed behind her, holding her cup of wine and looking at them in a mix of amusement and annoyance, “This is a party, you’re supposed to be having fun.”</p><p>“You know, what? You’re right,” Ben nodded enthusiastically and licked his lips, and Devi knew him well enough to know that he was planning something, “We should play a game.”</p><p>She couldn’t imagine ever agreeing to play a game with Ben Gross. Then again, before tonight, she couldn’t have imagined sitting and sipping wine with him and thinking that he wasn’t too terrible after all. Still, her voice was laced with suspicion when she asked, “What kind of game?”</p><p>“A game to finally prove to everyone that I’m smarter than you are,” he replied instantly, and that smug look that she knew too well returned to his face as she groaned. “We’ll play a game of knowledge. Kind of like Quiz Bowl, but we’ll take turns answering questions individually. Every question you get wrong, and I know that you’ll get many wrong, will be a point against you.”</p><p>“Quiz Bowl is one of your extracurriculars,” she argued quickly, “How is that fair that this is what’s supposed to determine the superior student?”</p><p>His eyes sparkled with a challenge and she felt her irritation toward him grow as he smirked, “Shouldn’t really matter if you’re truly better than me, right?”</p><p>Shit. She couldn’t really argue with that. </p><p>“Fine,” she sighed.</p><p>“Fine,” he grinned and turned his head, and she realized every nerd in the room had been listening to their conversation, “Everybody in? Somebody look up some questions.”</p><p>Beth immediately started searching on her phone, but Russia interrupted, his voice coming out in a drunken drawl, “Wait, wait, wait… what do you guys think about a round of Strip Quiz Bowl?”</p><p>There was a murmur of interest across the room, but Devi immediately groaned. Jesus, these nerds were deprived. Sure, she was sex-crazed and desperate enough to ask somebody she’d never even spoken with to pop her cherry, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be in a room full of naked nerds. She crossed her arms over her chest, “Pass.”</p><p>But Ben looked at her with that cocky grin and she knew there would be no way of getting out of it. “Scared to end up naked after your first five turns, David?” He teased, raising his eyebrows at her in a challenge.</p><p>“No, actually,” she said, meeting his gaze with a cool smirk, “It’s just that there are a lot of smart kids in this room, Gross. Really smart kids with bright futures ahead of them, you know? I’d hate for their futures to be jeopardized by everyone collectively clawing their own eyes out after getting once glance at your chicken legs.”</p><p>Ben shrugged and took a long sip of his wine before he replied, “You’re right. There are a lot of smart kids in the room. But if you refuse to play, I guess that means that I’m the smartest.”</p><p>For a long moment, she glared at him in silence and the nerds waited around her. A cock of his eyebrows was what finally made her huff and turn to Beth, asking in a deadpan tone, “What’s the first question?”</p><p>Beth grinned, glad to have a role, and read the question from her phone. It was a question about A Tale of Two Cities and Devi answered it with ease and much more detail than was probably necessary, smirking at Ben the entire time.</p><p>The game continued, and both Ben and Devi answered the questions easily, sipping wine all the while. Their fellow UN members had a more difficult time and eventually, Ben and Devi were the only ones left that were fully clothed. The nerds around her were in varying states of undress, leaving Ben as the only safe option for her gaze to land, so she stared at him as he answered his next question.</p><p>“Wrong,” she laughed suddenly, her voice full of glee, “It’s HIV, not HPV, dipshit. We learned that stuff ages ago.”</p><p>She knew that it was only a slipup caused by the wine, but it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t tease him about this for the rest of time. HPV. What an idiot. She was still laughing when he frowned and loosened his tie from around his neck, dropping it on the floor, and Beth turned to somebody else.</p><p>“Wait a second,” Devi said quickly, eyebrows furrowing as her laughter stopped, “He only took off his tie! That’s not fair. The tie shouldn’t count as taking off a piece of his clothing. I don’t have a tie. None of the other girls have ties. I don’t ever wear ties. Not that I couldn’t rock a tie if I wanted to wear one, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s not fair that Gross only has to take off his tie if-”</p><p>“Jesus, David, chill out,” Ben said, rolling his eyes, “If you really wanted me to take my shirt off so bad, you could’ve just asked.”</p><p>She sneered at him, thinking that she only wanted him to take more of his clothes off in hopes of embarrassing him, but her eyes stayed on him as he moved to take off his shirt anyway. Uncoordinated from the wine, he undid the buttons on his dress shirt slowly, revealing more skin with every movement of his fingers. When white fabric started to peek out and she realized he was wearing an undershirt, she reasoned that the rising feeling of disappointment was due to the missed opportunity to make fun of him. Her eyes strayed to his newly exposed arms instead, but she couldn’t seem to find anything to laugh at.</p><p>A few more rounds passed before she messed up. She accidentally switched around the last two numbers in a year, and while she corrected herself immediately after, she knew that Ben wouldn’t accept the correction. Sure enough, he jumped on the mistake in an instant, looking excited enough to wet himself. A long moment passed as she deliberated, regretting the fact that she had taken off her blazer long before the game had even started, as well as deciding not to wear an undershirt beneath her blouse. Deciding that her untucked shirt might be long enough to cover her underwear, she stood, sliding her skirt off her hips carefully.</p><p>When she sat back down, her gaze turned to Ben without thought. His eyes met hers for a split second, and they were surprisingly wide as he took her in and seemed to be a brighter blue than she had ever noticed before. They looked at each other for a moment too long before he cleared his throat and asked for his next question. She averted her gaze and downed the rest of her drink, but she couldn’t keep her eyes from straying back to him.</p><p>Slowly, the other Model UN members started to disperse. Some of them left after getting a final question wrong, unwilling to fully expose themselves to their peers. Some of them gave into their yawns and retreated to their rooms, rubbing sleep from their eyes. Eventually, even her roommates passed out on the bed they had all decided to share, and Devi and Ben were left alone. They sat on the floor between the beds still, facing each other in their underwear as they’d both missed a few questions now, taking turns reading questions off of Beth’s phone, and pretending not to stare at each other.</p><p>“This is taking forever, Gross,” Devi groaned, covering her yawn with her hand. It had been hours and she could barely see straight from how drunk and tired she was. “Can’t you just accept that I’m better than you? At least until the morning?”</p><p>“Not getting out of this that easy, David,” he said, sounding just as exhausted as she did, “It’s not over until you lose.”</p><p>She scoffed and passed the phone back to him, resting her head against the bed behind her. Her eyes were closed as he read the next question, something about the xiphoid process.</p><p>“Its purpose is to attach a bunch of muscles,” she said vaguely, not having heard the question properly, “And it’s located at the bottom of the… the bottom of…”</p><p>She frowned as she trailed off, unable to remember the word sternum in her state. She was silent for a moment, eyebrows furrowing deeper as Ben’s smirk grew. Stuck on the word, she figured the best way to prove that she knew was to show him. So, she rose on her knees, scooted over to him, and raised her hand to his bare chest. Her fingers started at the base of his neck and trailed down his skin, stopping at the middle of his chest where she knew his sternum ended, and saying, “It’s right about here.”</p><p>It was a half-answer at best, and she waited for Ben to say that her answer didn’t count, and that she’d lost to him, and that she’d have to admit that he was superior to her in every way now, but he didn’t say any of that. He didn’t say anything at all, and she only had a moment to wonder why before she realized what she was doing.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>She was in nothing but her underwear, and his skin was warm under her fingers, and they were close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek. He remained silent, and for a moment, she felt too nervous to meet his gaze. Her eyes stayed fixed on his chest as she spread her fingers on his skin, listening to his breath hitch. </p><p>Her breathing shallowed and she was struck by a memory of Paxton and his chest under her hand. The moment was similar, but completely different at the same time. She felt different with Ben. She was still nervous, but in a way that was closer to excited than scared. </p><p>Feeling brave, she tilted her head to meet his gaze.</p><p>But his eyes were closed. She took advantage of that fact, letting her gaze wander over his long eyelashes, his curved jaw, his slightly parted lips. Her fingers traced a slow circle over his skin, and she said in a whisper, “Is that right?”</p><p>There was another moment before he finally opened his eyes, and when he did, he averted them from her gaze. His voice was hardened when he said, “I should go.”</p><p>He shifted away from her quickly, standing and searching for his clothes. His absence originally left her feeling cold, but it was quickly replaced with the burning heat of embarrassment and shame. What had she done? What had she been thinking about doing? God, she was such an idiot. Of course, Ben wouldn’t want her. Nobody would want her. He’d said it himself. She was an unfuckable nerd and she always would be. </p><p>Without another word, he left, leaving her sitting alone on the floor. </p><p>By the morning, her emotions had morphed entirely into anger, as they often did. She was no longer embarrassed, hurt, or confused. She was just angry. She was angry at the Model UN losers for wanting to add stripping to the game, she was angry at herself for getting drunk and making a fool out of herself, and she was angry at Ben for not even being able to look at her after last night. </p><p>So, naturally, she made a complete mess of everything. </p><p>The rest of the nerds were cheering for nuclear war, and she could feel Ben’s eyes boring into the side of her head, but she refused to turn, letting a cold smirk form on her lips instead. When they were eventually released, she could feel Ben on her trail, but ignored him still until she felt his hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“What the hell was that, David?” </p><p>They argued all the time, so the angry tone of his voice wasn’t new to her. Refusing to look at him, she shrugged in answer and turned again, heading for the elevator. </p><p>“David! What the hell is going on? I thought we came to an agreement last night before…” he trailed off, continuing in a lower tone as he followed her down the hall, “Is this about last night?  Listen, Devi, I’m sorry if I did something, I just-”</p><p>Something about him apologizing – apologizing for not wanting to touch her, apologizing for being so disgusted just by being near her – just hurt her more. It stung for a second before she masked it with anger.</p><p>“It’s fine, Gross. I’m fine,” she said, whipping around to face him, the scathing tone of her voice making it very clear that she was not fine at all, “All you did was remind me what an unfuckable nerd I am. So unfuckable that you can’t even bear to be touched by me without having to run away to vomit or something.”</p><p>And he laughed. He fucking laughed. Infuriated, she turned on her heel and stomped the rest of the way to the elevator, slamming the button with her palm and muttering insults under her breath. When it opened, she rushed inside and mashed the button to close the door, but he stepped in anyway. Fully aware that she was acting like a child, she balled her hands into fists and stared at the ceiling.</p><p>“Devi, you don’t understand.” His voice was softer than she had ever heard it, and it made goosebumps raise on her arms in the confined space of the elevator. She wanted to look at him, see if his expression was as soft as his tone, but she didn’t move. “I didn’t want… I didn’t want to do something that we’d regret. I didn’t-”</p><p>“No, I get it,” she snapped. “Who wouldn’t regret being that close to me?” </p><p>“Devi,” he said, her name coming out of his mouth in a long sigh, “I didn’t mean it like that.” </p><p>There was a long moment of silence before the elevator let out a ding and she moved to step out. But he moved quicker, stepping in front of her to prevent her exit and pushing the button to close the doors. Devi huffed and reached for the buttons, but he grasped her hand as she raised it and she froze, finally looking at him.</p><p>His eyes were as beautifully blue as they were the night before, but they were slightly different, cautious instead of carefree. His eyebrows were drawn together in uncertainty and he worried his lower lip with his teeth. Slowly, he stepped closer to her and placed her hand on his chest.</p><p>“What are you doing?” she asked. She had tried to force anger into her voice, but it just came out in a murmur. </p><p>“What I wanted to do yesterday,” he said softly, and there was a part of her that wanted to pull away, either to run and avoid both him and the butterflies in her stomach forever or smack his shoulder and laugh at him for being so cringy, but she stood still as he leaned in. </p><p>An involuntary sigh left her when his lips finally touched hers. He kissed her slowly, hesitantly, fingers hovering over her waist. She hadn’t expected that kissing Ben Gross would be like this. She hadn’t expected to ever be kissing Ben Gross at all, really. She definitely hadn’t expected to enjoy kissing him.</p><p>She deepened the kiss, opening her mouth to him and sliding her hand up his chest to brush his jaw. This seemed to reassure him, and he finally touched her, grasping her hips and using his hold on her to pull her flush against him.</p><p>They seemed to go on like this forever, pressed against each other and sighing softly, until the elevator doors opened and they pulled apart. Her roommates stood on the other side, mouths open as they stared at the two in confusion, still under the impression that Devi was with Paxton. Suddenly, it felt like reality had returned.</p><p>She coughed and moved out of Ben’s arms, stepping around the girls and out of the elevator. She walked down the hallway, aware that Ben was following behind her. Finally, she stopped at the door to her hotel room and turned around to face him, biting her lip as she looked up at him. He looked nervous, even more so than before.</p><p>“Devi, what…” He hesitated, eyes searching her face, “What does this mean?”</p><p>What did this mean? God, she had no idea. Did they like each other? She hadn’t thought about anyone but Paxton for so long, nobody else had ever seemed like a possibility. And Ben had hated her since they were kids, surely he couldn’t like her. And even if he did, he had Shira.</p><p>“Does it have to mean anything?” she shrugged, feigning disinterest. But surprisingly, his face fell, and she felt guilt rise within her, so she continued, “I mean, it can’t mean anything, right? We’ve always hated each other, and you’re with Shira now, and I’m-”</p><p>“I broke up with Shira,” he said suddenly, and she felt something within her soar. He stepped slightly away from her, looking down at his hands as he explained, “After last night. I understand that it can’t mean anything. I know that you’re with Paxton now. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t be with someone else after the way that I felt about you last night.”</p><p>She hesitated for a long moment, trying to make sense of the rush of emotions she was experiencing, an odd mix of confusion, denial, and hope.</p><p>“I’m not with Paxton,” she said finally, and his eyes snapped up to meet hers, and god, they’re so blue, “I never was. It was all just some stupid lie that got out of hand.”</p><p>He smiled then, soft and genuine, and she felt her chest warm at the knowledge that she was the reason for that smile. His smile grew wider as he stepped toward her again, moving closer until her back was against the door and he was inches away, “So…”</p><p>“So, we still hate each other,” she interjected, panicking from the proximity and the overwhelming desire to be even closer still, “Don’t we?”</p><p>He shook his head, hand reaching between them to cup her cheek, and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “I don’t hate you, Devi,” he said quietly, “I never really have. Do you hate me?”</p><p>He was so close she could barely think straight, but a part of her still resisted. This was Ben. Just yesterday, the answer to that question would have been a resounding yes. All she’d ever wanted to do was destroy him. But now his thumb brushed her lower lip, and she shivered, all rational thoughts leaving her mind. She smiled and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders, “I don’t hate kissing you.”</p><p>He laughed and closed the distance between them, and she gave into him without a fight.</p><p>There would be time to figure everything out later.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I haven't written anything for such a long time so I hope this isn't complete garbage!!! I'm supposed to be working on final assignments, but I've read almost every Ben/Devi fic on here and I love this show too much. </p><p>Also apologies if the Quiz Bowl setup/questions don't make any sense at all lmao. I never did anything like that in school, but I saw it in Ben's list of extracurricular activities and got inspired by vague memories of a scene from PLL. </p><p>Hope you enjoyed!! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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